Stamp-Making, Collage, and Watercolor Target Practice!

This week we focused on gluing and collage work- and began by making our own stamps! I gave each child a thick block of foam, an assortment of thin foam shapes, and a bottle of glue. I explained to the children that they could glue the shapes down onto the foam blocks and when they dry, they can use them as stamps. As I observed this process, I realized that the kids who have been in art class for a while, were squeezing small dabs of glue onto their blocks and gently placing the shapes into the glue. Do you remember some of our first collage projects? The children would squeeze out an entire bottle of glue and dump as many collage items onto their paper as they could (no matter what age). In a past blog post, I explained that it is important to let them experiment with the glue and materials and eventually they will learn how to self-regulate. Well it looks like that time has come! Of course I'm sure they will still experiment with squeezing and dumping, but I'm ecstatic to see that they really are learning in here!



After putting their stamps to dry, I offered the children a tray of small materials and some colored glue to continue working in this collage medium.









The children moved around the room to work at the easels and collect items from the shelf.
Then they discovered the scissors again!



As the weather has begun to warm up, I wanted to end class with a fun outdoor art game. I created two bulls-eye targets on paper and hung them on the easels outside. Then I gave the children water color spray bottles to shoot at the targets from behind a line (thanks Rhian for this awesome idea). These kids have great aim!